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The scanning electron microscope (SEM) recordings of dynamic nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS) are difficult to analyze due to the noise caused by low frame rate, insufficient resolution, and blurriness induced by applied electric potentials. Here, we develop an image processing platform enhanced by the physics of the underlying system to track the motion of buckling NEMS structures in the presence of high noise levels. The algorithm is composed of an image filter, two data filters, and a nonlinear regression model, which utilizes the expected form of the physical solution. The method was applied to the recordings of a NEMS beam about 150 nm wide, undergoing intra- and inter-well post-buckling states with a transition rate of approximately 0.5 Hz. The algorithm can track the dynamical motion of the NEMS and capture the dependency of deflection amplitude on the compressive force on the beam. With the help of the proposed algorithm, the transition from inter-well to intra-well motion is clearly resolved for buckling NEMS imaged under SEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoluminescence imaging of field-installed photovoltaic modules has the potential to be a high throughput on-site inspection technique. A contribution to this development is a noninvasive photoluminescence imaging method that has been proposed recently. It is based on acquiring images during a progressing current–voltage curve sweep, resulting in a detection of a continuously changing photoluminescence signal. From this follows the necessity to employ an alternative algorithm based on the Pearson correlation coefficient, which will contribute to efficient, unsupervised image processing and, thus, easier (in real-time) implementation. The new algorithm separates photoluminescence from the reflected sunlight, similar to the conventional subtraction algorithm. However, it is robust to varying solar irradiance and can process the photoluminescence signal emitted from multiple asynchronized strings. We predict that it will enable unsupervised real-time surveillance and detection of functional anomalies at a low computational cost. It is also more sensitive at segmenting ground-reflected photoluminescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tensile testing (aka tension testing) is a widely employed mechanical testing technique for analyzing materials' properties and behavior under applied stress. Tensile testing plays a pivotal role in helping engineers to make informed decision about material selection and usage. Despite its importance, there is a limited numbers of studies that explored the potential of AI techniques for real time monitoring and material behavior prediction in tensile testing. To this end, this work presents a deep learning model designed to predict the material's condition throughout tensile testing and provide an early warning prior to fracture. By leveraging a comprehensive dataset of tension test video samples, the proposed model utilizes both convolution and recurrent neural networks to extract pertinent spatial and temporal visual features, thereby predicting the frames at which material deformation and fracture occur. The evaluation results of our research showed that the proposed model achieved a predictive ability with an F1-score of 97%, on average. The implications of our research are significant for industries and researchers in the field of materials science and engineering. By accurately predicting material status, our model enables autonomous, real time analysis of material behavior during tensile testing, leading to better time and cost efficiency in various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding patches is a crucial step in a pavement performance survey. The study develops a machine learning and image processing algorithm-established automatic method for identifying asphalt pavement patches. The GrayLevel Co-Occurrence Matrix and image texture-based features derived from color channel statistics are used as input parameters to describe the condition of the pavement. For feature extraction, image processing methods like the projective integral of images, steerable filters, and an improved image thresholding method were used. Support Vector Machine is employed for categorizing the differentiating patched regions from non-patch ones. The suggested combination of image texture analytical methods has been trained using an IA data set created from 400 image samples. The feature set, which combines the characteristics of cracked objects with those generated from the projective integral, can produce the desired result. To make the model's execution simpler, a patch recognition program was created and implemented in MATLAB. As a result, the recently created method has the potential to be an instrument for traffic management organizations through the assessment of pavement performance. The results of the experiments indicate that the newly developed method may achieve excellent accuracy prediction results with a classifier performance rate of about 96%. Such a method could enable transportation authorities to assess the state of asphalt pavement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiplicative noise removal is a challenging image processing problem. In this paper, we study a fractional-order nonlinear cross-diffusion system to denoise images corrupted by multiplicative Gamma noise. The system is coupled by two nonlinear, partial differential equations and gray level information, fractional derivative operator is considered in diffusion process to remove high level noise effectively while preserve structure details for texture images and SAR images. We prove the existence of weak solutions and other theoretical properties of the fractional-order cross-diffusion system under some hypotheses. In the numerical aspect, the model is implemented by virtue of the discrete fractional Fourier transform in the frequency domain. Experimental results show that the new system has a good compromise between multiplicative noise removal and structure preservation when compared to other well-known denoising methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns regarding microplastic (MP) contamination in aquatic ecosystems and its impact on seafood require a better understanding of human dietary MP exposure including extensive monitoring. While conventional techniques for MP analysis like infrared or Raman microspectroscopy provide detailed particle information, they are limited by low sample throughput, particularly when dealing with high particle numbers in seafood due to matrix-related residues. Consequently, more rapid techniques need to be developed to meet the requirements of large-scale monitoring. This study focused on semi-automated fluorescence imaging analysis after Nile red staining for rapid MP screening in seafood. By implementing RGB-based fluorescence threshold values, the need for high operator expertise to prevent misclassification was addressed. Food-relevant MP was identified with over 95% probability and differentiated from natural polymers with a 1% error rate. Comparison with laser direct infrared imaging (LDIR), a state-of-the-art method for rapid MP analysis, showed similar particle counts, indicating plausible results. However, highly variable recovery rates attributed to inhomogeneous particle spiking experiments highlight the need for future development of certified reference material including sample preparation. The proposed method demonstrated suitability of high throughput analysis for seafood samples, requiring 0.02–0.06 h/cm2 filter surface compared to 4.5–14.7 h/cm with LDIR analysis. Overall, the method holds promise as a screening tool for more accurate yet resource-intensive MP analysis methods such as spectroscopic or thermoanalytical techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a novel method for 3D data cube denoising, where the 3D data cube is corrupted by noise with spatially varying noise levels. We perform 3D dual tree complex wavelet transform (DTCWT) to the 3D data cube, and then conduct wavelet-based thresholding based on three scales of dependency in wavelet coefficients. Instead of using the global noise level, we estimate the noise levels locally, which improve the denoising results substantially. We conduct inverse DTCWT to obtain the noise reduced data cubes. Experiments demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms block matching and 3D filtering, video block matching and 3D filtering, 2D bivariate shrinkage, and 3D bivariate shrinkage significantly for noise reduction of 3D data cubes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximate multipliers are widely used in image processing and multimedia signal processing applications for the reduction in area, computation time, and power consumption. 4:2 compressors play a key role in multipliers for efficient addition of partial product bits. In this paper, an inexact 4:2 compressor is proposed, where a major portion of the logic associated with the generation of Carry and Sum are shared to reduce the logic/circuit complexity. During the design time overestimates are balanced with the underestimates so as to reduce the total error distance. The proposed compressor is used for the addition of partial products of the Baugh-Wooley multiplier. A novel algorithm is proposed for the placement of inexact 4:2 compressors in the partial product bit array, based on the minimum peak signal-to-noise ratio requirement of the application. The approximate multipliers thus obtained are used for edge detection using Sobel operator. It is observed from the Pareto analysis that the proposed design offers significant saving in area, computation time, and power consumption over the design with nearly the same error performance. Besides, the proposed design is more error tolerant compared with the design with nearly the same area-delay trade-off and power-delay trade-off. Moreover, the proposed inexact 4:2 compressor-based Baugh-Wooley multiplier is found to offer better accuracy-area trade-off compared to the state-of-the-art 4:2 compressors in convolutional neural network-based classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apple-picking robot can promote the development of smart agriculture, and accurate object recognition in complex natural environments using deep learning algorithms is critical. However, research has shown that changes in illumination and object occlusion remain significant challenges for recognition. In order to improve the accuracy of apple apple-picking robot’s identification and positioning of apples in natural environment, a method using YOLOv5 (You Only Look Once, YOLO) combined with fast-guided filter is proposed. By introducing a fast-guided filtering module, the ability to extract image features is improved, and the problem of inaccurate occlusion targets and edge detection is solved; K-means clustering algorithm is introduced in improving YOLOv5, which can realize automatic adjustment of image size and step size; BiFPN structure is introduced in Neck network to add weighted feature fusion to highlight the detailed features. The results show that the algorithm proposed in this paper can well remove noise information such as occlusion edge blurring in apple images in a natural light environment. In the real orchard environment, the apple recognition accuracy rate reached 97.8%, the recall rate was 97.3% and the recognition rate was about 26.84fps. The results show that this research based on YOLOv5 and fast-guided filtering can realize fast and accurate identification of apple fruits in natural environment, and meet the practical application requirements of real-time target detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing the sensitivity of image sensors is a major challenge for current imaging technology. Researchers are tackling it because highly sensitive sensors enable objects to be recognized even in dark environments, which is critical for today's smartphones, wearable devices, and automobiles. Unfortunately, conventional image-sensor architectures use light-absorptive color filters on every pixel, which fundamentally limits the detected light power per pixel. Recent advances in optical metasurfaces have led to the creation of pixelated light-transmissive color splitters with the potential to enhance sensor sensitivity. These metasurfaces can be used instead of color filters to distinguish primary colors, and unlike color filters, they can direct almost all of the incident light to the photodetectors, thereby maximizing the detectable light power. This review focuses on such metasurface-based color splitters enabling high-sensitivity color-image sensors. Their underlying principles are introduced with a focus on dispersion engineering. Then, their capabilities as optical elements are assessed on the basis of our recent findings. Finally, it is discussed how they can be used to create high-sensitivity color-image sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A stochastic network simulation is verified when its distribution of outputs is aligned with the ground truth, while tolerating deviations due to variability in real-world measurements and the randomness of a stochastic simulation. However, comparing distributions may yield false positives, as erroneous simulations may have the expected distribution yet present aberrations in low-level patterns. For instance, the number of sick individuals may present the right trend over time, but the wrong individuals were infected. We previously proposed an approach that transforms simulation traces into images verified by machine learning algorithms that account for low-level patterns. We demonstrated the viability of this approach when many simulation traces are compared with a large ground truth data set. However, ground truth data are often limited. For example, a publication may include few images of their simulation as illustrations; hence, teams that independently re-implement the model can only compare low-level patterns with few cases. In this paper, we examine whether our approach can be utilized with very small data sets (e.g., 5–10 images), as provided in publications. Depending on the network simulation model (e.g., rumor spread, cascading failure, and disease spread), we show that results obtained with little data can even surpass results obtained with moderate amounts of data at the cost of variability. Although a good accuracy is obtained in detecting several forms of errors, this paper is only a first step in the use of this technique for verification; hence, future works should assess the applicability of our approach to other types of network simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing popularity of machine learning (ML) in image processing, privacy concerns have emerged as a significant issue in deploying and using ML services. However, current privacy protection approaches often require computationally expensive training from scratch or extensive fine-tuning of models, posing significant barriers to the development of privacy-conscious models, particularly for smaller organizations seeking to comply with data privacy laws. In this paper, we address the privacy challenges in computer vision by investigating the effectiveness of two recent fine-tuning methods, Model Reprogramming and Low-Rank Adaptation. We adapt these techniques to provide attribute protection for pre-trained models, minimizing computational overhead and training time. Specifically, we modify the models to produce privacy-preserving latent representations of images that cannot be used to identify unintended attributes. We integrate these methods into an adversarial min–max framework, allowing us to conceal sensitive information from feature outputs without extensive modifications to the pre-trained model, but rather focusing on a small set of new parameters. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods by conducting experiments on the CelebA dataset, achieving state-of-the-art performance while significantly reducing computational complexity and cost. Our research provides a valuable contribution to the field of computer vision and privacy, offering practical solutions to enhance the privacy of machine learning services without compromising efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Savoring is a positive emotion up‐regulation technique that can increase electrocortical and self‐reported valence and arousal to positive and neutral pictures, with effects persisting to increase response to the same stimuli when encountered later. Outside of the lab, emotion regulation techniques that persist to affect not just encounters with the same stimuli but also encounters with similar, but previously unencountered stimuli should save individuals time and effort. Here, we used event‐related potentials and picture ratings to test whether savoring would generalize to similar, but previously unseen positive pictures. To this end, 89 participants (56 female; M age = 18.96 years, SD = 1.87) were asked to savor positive pictures from one category (e.g., happy people) and to view positive pictures from another category (e.g., cute animals), as well as to view neutral pictures (e.g., plants). In a subsequent passive picture viewing task, participants viewed novel pictures from all three categories (i.e., happy people, cute animals, plants). In the first task, savoring was effective for pictures of animals throughout picture presentation, but only for pictures of people during the later part of picture presentation. In the second task, savoring generalized to novel pictures of animals, though this was only evident in the early portion of picture processing (and for self‐reported ratings). Therefore, savoring holds promise as a useful technique for increasing positive emotion in everyday life, though more work is needed to understand whether effects may vary depending on different types of picture content. We tested whether savoring, a technique for increasing positive emotion, would generalize to novel, similar stimuli, thereby saving individuals time and effort. Participants performed a savor and view task, before viewing similar pictures in a passive view task. Results showed that pictures resembling those that had previously been savored elicited increased late positive potentials and more emotional ratings than pictures resembling those that had been viewed. Nonetheless, effects were specific to certain picture content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many algorithms for image processing do not require particularly high precision, but they rely on complicated arithmetic operations for every pixel in an image. The Bernsen algorithm is a typical local thresholding algorithm for solving the problem of uneven lighting. However, this algorithm requires a significant computing overhead and is extremely sensitive to noise. In this work, two stochastic computing architectures are proposed for implementing the Bernsen algorithm by using, respectively, uncorrelated and correlated input bitstreams. Experimental results show that both designs, especially the one using correlated bitstreams, present high fault tolerance of soft errors and low hardware cost in comparison with its conventional binary implementation. However, SC logic with uncorrelated inputs is not always superior to its corresponding binary circuit in energy consumption, especially the circuit that needs long input bitstreams. That means that a reasonable use of correlation can further optimize the SC circuit design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiking neural membrane systems (SN P systems) are a class of bio-inspired models inspired by the activities and connectivity of neurons. Extensive studies have been made on SN P systems with synchronization-based communication, while further efforts are needed for the systems with rhythm-based communication. In this work, we design an asynchronous SN P system with resonant connections where all the enabled neurons in the same group connected by resonant connections should instantly produce spikes with the same rhythm. In the designed system, each of the three modules implements one type of the three operations associated with the edge detection of digital images, and they collaborate each other through the resonant connections. An algorithm called EDSNP for edge detection is proposed to simulate the working of the designed asynchronous SN P system. A quantitative analysis of EDSNP and the related methods for edge detection had been conducted to evaluate the performance of EDSNP. The performance of the EDSNP in processing the testing images is superior to the compared methods, based on the quantitative metrics of accuracy, error rate, mean square error, peak signal-to-noise ratio and true positive rate. The results indicate the potential of the temporal firing and the proper neuronal connections in the SN P system to achieve good performance in edge detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the methodology and theoretical foundation of topology optimization (TO) Results Spaceframe Interpreter, an automatic TO results interpreter that generates a closely associated space frame consisting of welded structural tubing or rectangular bars. TO is a computational technique that uses a finite element (FE) formulation to identify the most weight-efficient structure within a design domain. Density-based TO results in structures that take organic forms and is usually a tedious and cumbersome process to generate a computer-aided-design (CAD) model to manufacture through conventional techniques. The optimal topology frequently resembles a space frame, which is well-known as being a rigid, lightweight structure. The methodology of the TO results interpreter leverages several techniques from volumetric image processing and has four primary processes. First, the results are obtained from commercial FE/TO software and mapped into a cubic grid of voxels. Second, junction locations are extracted and member connectivity that represents a frame is identified. Third, a sizing optimization is incorporated to determine appropriate sectional dimensions of the circular or rectangular space frame members. Fourth, the optimized space frame geometry is imported into a CAD design tool to automatically create a design model. The logic and are implemented within the frame extraction processes. The automated TO interpreter is designed to interact with commercial FE analysis and CAD systems. The interpreter is demonstrated on various spatial examples including aerospace and automotive applications. In each case, the welded space frame closely resembles the TO result, with nearly equivalent stiffness and mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Phisically-based thermal infrared images rendering chain for artificial satellite targets. • Assessment and comparison of most relevant pixel-level VIS-TIR image fusion techniques. • Fused noisy image processing within the context of uncooperative space-craft relative navigation. State-of-the-art techniques for vision-based relative navigation rely on images acquired in the visible spectral band. Consequently, the accuracy and robustness of the navigation is strongly influenced by the illumination conditions. The exploitation of thermal-infrared images for navigation purposes is studied in the present paper, as a possible solution to improve navigation in close proximity with a target spacecraft. Thermal-infrared images depend on the thermal radiation emitted by the target, hence, they are independent from light conditions; however, they suffer from a poorer texture and a lower contrast with respect to visible ones. This paper proposes pixel-level image fusion to overcome the limitations of the two types of images. The two source images are merged into a more informative one, retaining the strengths of the distinguished sensing modalities. The contribution of this work is twofold: firstly, a realistic thermal infrared images rendering tool for artificial targets is implemented; secondly, different pixel-level visible-thermal infrared images fusion techniques are assessed through qualitative and quantitative performance metrics to ease and improve the subsequent image processing step. The work presents a comprehensive evaluation of the best fusion techniques for on-board implementation, paving the way to the development of a multispectral end-to-end navigation chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a novel thresholding and morphology-based skull stripping method for different MRI modalities. The proposed method is designed in a way which is easy to use and generates satisfactory results with minimal parameter adjustments. The method is evaluated on three different benchmark datasets and compared with nine state-of-the-art skull stripping methods. The experimental results suggest that the proposed method generates comparable results to some of the best methods in literature. However, unlike many other methods, it works well on different types of MRI scans. Moreover, this method generates the skull mask along with the brain mask that can be used to study various skull pathologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rock strength parameters such as uniaxial compressive strength and modulus of elasticity are crucial parameters in designing rock engineering structures. Owing to the importance of the aforementioned parameters, in this paper, image processing technique is coupled with artificial neural network (ANN) method for assessing the uniaxial compressive strength and modulus of elasticity of sandstones. For this reason, 102 core sandstone samples were prepared. Subsequently petrographic analyses and imaging operation for 102 images were performed. Principal component analysis was then conducted for feature reduction purposes. At last, an ANN model, which received its input data from image processing technique, was constructed for assessing the UCS and E of sandstone samples. Overall, the best performance of the network was obtained when 10 hidden nodes were used. The correlation coefficient (R) values of 0.9722 and 0.97062 for UCS and E, respectively, suggest the feasibility of the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The segmentation of pathological image is an indispensable content in the cancerous diagnosis and grading, which is provided to doctors for the location and quantitative analysis of pathologically altered tissue. However, pathological whole slide image (WSI) generally has gigapixel size and huge region-level objective to be segmented. Extracting patches from WSI can address the limitation of computer memory, but the integrity of target is hence affected. Moreover, supervised learning methods require manually annotated labels for training, which is laborious and time-consuming. Thus, we studied a novel weakly supervised learning (WSL)-based end-to-end framework for semantic segmentation of cancerous area in WSI. The proposed framework is based on the block-level segmentation of convolutional neural network (CNN), while CNN is required to integrate the global average pooling layer and single fully connected layer as WSL-CNN. Class activation map and dense conditional random field (DenseCRF) are adapted to realize pixel-level segmentation of the cancerous area in patch, which is incorporated into the classification process of WSL-CNN. The hierarchically double use of DenseCRF effectively improves the precision of semantic segmentation. A region-based annotation method and a flexible method of constructing training dataset are proposed to reduce the workload of annotation. Experiments show that the block-level segmentation of CNNs has better performance than the pixel-level segmentation of fully convolutional networks, ResNet50 is the best one that achieves F1 score of 0.87426, Jaccard score of 0.78079, Recall of 0.94251 and Precision of 0.82182. The proposed framework can effectively refine the block-level prediction as semantic segmentation without pixel-level label. The precision of all tested CNNs get improved in the experiments, with WSL-ResNet50 achieving F1 score of 0.90630, Jaccard score of 0.83230, Recall of 0.92051 and Precision of 0.89789. We propose a complete end-to-end framework, including the specific structure of neural network, the construction of training dataset, the prediction method using neural network and the post-processing. CNN-like architectures can be widely transplanted into this framework to realize semantic segmentation, solving the problem of insufficient label of large-scale medical image to a certain extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores advanced image processing techniques for pigment discrimination in rock art paintings, emphasizing color separation using RGB (red, green, blue) and LHCUv (Luminance, Hue, Chroma) imagery. It highlights the use of dimensionality reduction methods such as Principal Components Analisys PCA and Independent Component Analysis (ICA), with a focus on Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) for probabilistic classification of image elements. This approach, applied to the Chomache archaeological site on the northernmost coast of the Atacama Desert in Chile, reveals previously undetected motifs and details, offering a nuanced perspective in rock art documentation and analysis. This proposal reinforces the value of rock art panel not only as a finished product but as a process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extraction of cellular structure feature on the spherical premixed flame surface faces accuracy challenges. The Schlieren technique was employed to obtain the hydrogen-air premixed spherical flames images in a constant volume vessel at room temperature and atmospheric pressure under an equivalent ratio of 0.8 in this work. A bio-inspired Cellpose 2.0, driven by deep learning, is innovatively introduced to train the cell segmentation model in the combustion field. After labeling and training cells of different shapes and sizes, an efficient and accurate model suitable for cell feature extraction was finally obtained to identify and quantify various cells characteristics, such as number, size, and distribution. Results show that the average precision (AP) during the model online pre-training process reaches 0.625. Meanwhile, the critical flame radius of transition acceleration obtained is 36 mm and the crack length tends to grow linearly after the flame radius exceeds this critical point. Additionally, the average cell area gradually converges to a stable value after the flame radius exceeds the uniform cellularity critical radius. The cell segmentation model obtained in this work can be further used to train different spherical flames under various conditions, helping to develop hydrogen combustion and explosion modelling. [Display omitted] • First application of Cellpose 2.0 in combustion image process yields AP of 0.625 • Quantitative cell information on H 2 -Air flame surfaces achieved with deep learning. • Cells number rapid increase after the flame exceeds critical radius of transition acceleration. • Average cell area gradually converges to a stable value after uniform cellularity critical radius. • Flame propagation exhibits a self-accelerating trend after transition acceleration critical radius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, vibrational resonance has garnered significant interest and evolved into a prominent research field. Classical vibrational resonance examines the response of a nonlinear system excited by two signals: a weak, slowly varying characteristic signal, and a fast-varying auxiliary signal. The characteristic signal operates on a much longer time scale than the auxiliary signal. Through the cooperation of the nonlinear system and these two excitations, the faint input can be substantially amplified, showcasing the constructive role of the fast-varying signal. Since its inception, vibrational resonance has been extensively studied across various disciplines, including physics, mathematics, biology, neuroscience, laser science, chemistry, and engineering. Here, we delve into a detailed discussion of vibrational resonance and the most recent advances, beginning with an introduction to characteristic signals commonly used in its study. Furthermore, we compile numerous nonlinear models where vibrational resonance has been observed to enhance readers' understanding and provide a basis for comparison. Subsequently, we present the metrics used to quantify vibrational resonance, as well as offer a theoretical formulation. This encompasses the method of direct separation of motions, linear and nonlinear vibrational resonance, re-scaled vibrational resonance, ultrasensitive vibrational resonance, and the role of noise in vibrational resonance. Later, we showcase two practical applications of vibrational resonance: one in image processing and the other in fault diagnosis. This presentation offers a comprehensive and versatile overview of vibrational resonance, exploring various facets and highlighting promising avenues for future research in both theory and engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X‐ray Computed Tomography (CT) images are widely used in various fields of natural, physical, and biological sciences. 3D reconstruction of the images involves segmentation of the structures of interest. Manual segmentation has been widely used in the field of biological sciences for complex structures composed of several sub‐parts and can be a time‐consuming process. Many tools have been developed to automate the segmentation process, all with various limitations and advantages, however, multipart segmentation remains a largely manual process. The aim of this study was to develop an open‐access and user‐friendly tool for the automatic segmentation of calcified tissues, specifically focusing on craniofacial bones. Here we describe BounTI, a novel segmentation algorithm which preserves boundaries between separate segments through iterative thresholding. This study outlines the working principles behind this algorithm, investigates the effect of several input parameters on its outcome, and then tests its versatility on CT images of the craniofacial system from different species (e.g. a snake, a lizard, an amphibian, a mouse and a human skull) with various scan qualities. The case studies demonstrate that this algorithm can be effectively used to segment the craniofacial system of a range of species automatically. High‐resolution microCT images resulted in more accurate boundary‐preserved segmentation, nonetheless significantly lower‐quality clinical images could still be segmented using the proposed algorithm. Methods for manual intervention are included in this tool when the scan quality is insufficient to achieve the desired segmentation results. While the focus here was on the craniofacial system, BounTI can be used to automatically segment any hard tissue. The tool presented here is available as an Avizo/Amira add‐on, a stand‐alone Windows executable, and a Python library. We believe this accessible and user‐friendly segmentation tool can benefit the wider anatomical community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of image fusion is the process of enriching an image and improving the image's quality, so as to facilitate the subsequent image processing and analysis. With the increasing importance of image fusion technology, the fusion of infrared and visible images has received extensive attention. In today's deep learning environment, deep learning is widely used in the field of image fusion. However, in some applications, it is not possible to obtain a large amount of training data. Because some special organs of snakes can receive and process infrared information and visible information, the fusion method of infrared and visible light to simulate the visual mechanism of snakes came into being. Therefore, this paper takes into account the perspective of visual bionics to achieve image fusion; such methods do not need to obtain a significant amount of training data. However, most of the fusion methods for simulating snakes face the problem of unclear details, so this paper combines this method with a pulse coupled neural network (PCNN). By studying two receptive field models of retinal nerve cells, six dual-mode cell imaging mechanisms of rattlesnakes and their mathematical models and the PCNN model, an improved fusion method of infrared and visible images was proposed. For the proposed fusion method, eleven groups of source images were used, and three non-reference image quality evaluation indexes were compared with seven other fusion methods. The experimental results show that the improved algorithm proposed in this paper is better overall than the comparison method for the three evaluation indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Converting a camera's RAW image to an RGB format for human perception involves utilizing an imaging pipeline, and a series of processing modules. Existing modules often result in varying degrees of original information loss, which can render the reverse imaging pipeline unable to recover the original RAW image information. To this end, this paper proposes a new, almost reversible image imaging pipeline. Thus, RGB images and RAW images can be effectively converted between each other. Considering the impact of original information loss, this paper introduces a two-stage tone mapping operation (TMO). In the first stage, the RAW image with a linear response is transformed into an RGB color image. In the second stage, color scale mapping corrects the dynamic range of the image suitable for human perception through linear stretching, and reduces the loss of sensitive information to the human eye during the integer process. effectively preserving the original image's dynamic information. The DCRAW imaging pipeline addresses the problem of high light overflow by directly highlighting cuts. The proposed imaging pipeline constructs an independent highlight processing module, and preserves the highlighted information of the image. The experimental results demonstrate that the two-stage tone mapping operation embedded in the imaging processing pipeline provided in this article ensures that the image output is suitable for human visual system (HVS) perception and retains more original image information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the finite element analysis of asphalt concrete (AC), it is nowadays common to incorporate the information from the underlying scales to study the overall response of this material. Heterogeneity observed at the asphalt mixture scale is analyzed in this paper. Reliable finite element analysis (FEA) of asphalt concrete comprises a set of complex issues. The two main aspects of the asphalt concrete FEA discussed in this study are: (1) digital reconstruction of the asphalt pavement microstructure using processing of the high-quality images; and (2) FEA of the asphalt concrete idealized samples accounting for the viscoelastic material model. Reconstruction of the asphalt concrete microstructure is performed using a sequence of image processing operations (binarization, removing holes, filtering, segmentation and boundaries detection). Geometry of the inclusions (aggregate) are additionally simplified in a controlled mode to reduce the numerical cost of the analysis. As is demonstrated in the study, the introduced geometry simplifications are justified. Computational cost reduction exceeds of several orders of magnitude additional modeling error occurring due to the applied simplification technique. Viscoelastic finite element analysis of the AC identified microstructure is performed using the Burgers material model. The analysis algorithm is briefly described with a particular focus on the computational efficiency aspects. In order to illustrate the proposed approach, a set of 2D problems is solved. Numerical results confirm both the effectiveness of the self-developed code and the applicability of the Burgers model to the analyzed class of AC analysis problems. Further research directions are also described to highlight the potential benefits of the developed approach to numerical modeling of asphalt concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While binder jetting (BJ) additive manufacturing (AM) holds considerable promise for industrial applications, defects often compromise part quality. This study addresses these challenges by investigating binding mechanisms and analyzing common defects, proposing tailored solutions to mitigate them. Emphasizing defect identification for effective quality control in BJ-AM, this research offers strategies for in-process rectification and post-process evaluation to elevate part quality. It shows how to successfully process metallic parts with complex geometries while maintaining consistent material properties. Furthermore, the paper explores the microstructure of AISI M2 tool steel, utilizing advanced image processing techniques like digital image analysis and SEM images to evaluate carbide distribution. The results show that M2 tool steel has a high proportion of M6C carbides, with furnace-cooled samples ranging from ~2.4% to 7.1% and MC carbides from ~0.4% to 9.4%. M6C carbides ranged from ~2.6% to 3.8% in air-cooled samples, while water-cooled samples peaked at ~8.52%. Sintering conditions also affected shrinkage, with furnace-cooled samples showing the lowest rates (1.7 ± 0.4% to 5 ± 0.4%) and water-cooled samples showing the highest (2 ± 0.4% to 14.1 ± 0.4%). The study recommends real-time defect detection systems with autonomous corrective capabilities to improve the quality and performance of BJ-AM components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lyotropic liquid crystals represent an important class of anisotropic colloid systems. Their integration with optically active nanoparticles can provide us with responsive luminescent media that offer new fundamental and applied solutions for biomedicine. This paper analyzes the molecular-level behavior of such composites represented by tetraethylene glycol monododecyl ether and nanoscale carbon dots in microfluidic channels. Microfluidic confinement allows for simultaneously applying multiple factors, such as flow dynamics, wall effects, and temperature, for the precise control of the molecular arrangement in such composites and their resulting optical properties. The microfluidic behavior of composites was characterized by a set of analytical and modeling tools such as polarized and fluorescent microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and fluorescent spectroscopy, as well as image processing in Matlab. The composites were shown to form tunable anisotropic intermolecular structures in microchannels with several levels of molecular ordering. A predominant lamellar structure of the composites was found to undergo additional ordering with respect to the microchannel axis and walls. Such an alignment was controlled by applying shear and temperature factors to the microfluidic environment. The revealed molecular behavior of the composite may contribute to the synthesis of hybrid organized media capable of polarized luminescence for on-chip diagnostics and biomimetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise and timely recognition of hazardous chemical substances is of great significance for safeguarding human health, ecological environment, public security, etc., especially crucial for adopting appropriate disposition measures. Up to now, there remains a practical challenge to sensitively detect and differentiate organic amines with similar chemical structures with intuitive analysis outcomes. Here, a unique optical probe with two electrophilic recognition sites for rapid and ultra‐sensitive ratiometric fluorescence detection of ethylenediamine (EDA) is presented, while producing distinct fluorescence signals to its structural analog. The probe exhibits ppb/nmol level sensitivity to liquidous and gaseous EDA, specific recognition toward EDA without disturbance to up to 28 potential interferents, as well as rapid fluorescence response within 0.2 s. By further combining the portable sensing chip with the convolutional algorithm endowed with image processing, this work cracked the problem of precisely discriminating the target and non‐targets at extremely low concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer Stem Cells presumably drive tumor growth and resistance to conventional cancer treatments. From a previous computational model, we inferred that these cells are not uniformly distributed in the bulk of a tumorsphere. To confirm this result, we cultivated tumorspheres enriched in stem cells, and performed immunofluorescent detection of the stemness marker SOX2 using confocal microscopy. In this article, we present an image processing method that reconstructs the amount and location of the Cancer Stem Cells in the spheroids. Its advantage is the use of a statistical criterion to classify the cells in Stem and Differentiated, instead of setting an arbitrary threshold. Moreover, the analysis of the experimental images presented in this work agrees with the results from our computational models, thus enforcing the notion that the distribution of Cancer Stem Cells in a tumorsphere is non-homogeneous. Additionally, the method presented here provides a useful tool for analyzing any image in which different kinds of cells are stained with different markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The No‐Reference Image Quality Assessment (NR‐IQA) method can predict quality scores of distorted images without the reference image. However, due to the variability in both color and structure of images, existing NR‐IQA methods struggle to accurately predict quality scores of distorted images. Therefore, an NR‐IQA method based on a Dual‐Branch Residual Network (DBRIQA) for evaluating the quality scores of color‐distorted images is proposed. First, guided filtering is applied to the hue images in the HSV space to extract distortion information from the image's color. Then, due to significant differences in distorted images, enhancements are made to the traditional residual blocks, forming a feature extraction module that captures multi‐scale features from the image. In order to capture the global relationships in the distorted image, a Global‐Level Attention Block (GLAB) is introduced, facilitating the interaction of information among the extracted features. Experiments were conducted across four publicly available IQA datasets, including LIVE, CSIQ, TID2008, and TID2013. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method exhibits strong performance and generalization capabilities in predicting image quality compared to peer methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online detection of action start is a significant and challenging task that requires prompt identification of action start positions and corresponding categories within streaming videos. This task presents challenges due to data imbalance, similarity in boundary content, and real‐time detection requirements. Here, a novel Time‐Attentive Fusion Network is introduced to address the requirements of improved action detection accuracy and operational efficiency. The time‐attentive fusion module is proposed, which consists of long‐term memory attention and the fusion feature learning mechanism, to improve spatial‐temporal feature learning. The temporal memory attention mechanism captures more effective temporal dependencies by employing weighted linear attention. The fusion feature learning mechanism facilitates the incorporation of current moment action information with historical data, thus enhancing the representation. The proposed method exhibits linear complexity and parallelism, enabling rapid training and inference speed. This method is evaluated on two challenging datasets: THUMOS'14 and ActivityNet v1.3. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly outperforms existing state‐of‐the‐art methods in terms of both detection accuracy and inference speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the challenges of detecting a large number of objects and a high proportion of small objects in aerial drone imagery, an aerial dense small object detection algorithm called coordinate position attention module you only look once (CPAM‐YOLO) is proposed based on the coordinate position attention module (CPAM). In the backbone network of CPAM‐YOLO, a CPAM is proposed and embedded that decomposes channel attention into two 1D feature encoding processes, and selectively combines the features of each position through the weighted sum of all position features. Finally, features are aggregated along two spatial directions, increasing the effective information utilization of input feature positions and channels. The backbone network, feature enhancement network, and detection heads have been optimized to improve detection accuracy while ensuring a lightweight detection network. Using lightweight backbone networks to significantly reduce the number of parameters while using high‐resolution feature enhancement networks to retain more semantic and detailed features. The algorithm's performance was evaluated using the publicly available VisDrone2019 dataset. Compared to the baseline network YOLOv5l, CPAM‐YOLO achieved a 4.5% improvement in mAP0.5 and a 3.2% improvement in mAP0.95. These experimental results demonstrate the strong practicality of the CPAM‐YOLO object detection network for detecting dense small objects in aerial image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]